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"A Waking" to be performed at Local Gallery

Delta Psi Omega Theatre Honor Society and the Performing Arts Society at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg will sponsor two performances of the one-act play “A Waking.”

The play, written by Pitt-Greensburg student Megan Hughes, of Lancaster, PA, will be performed 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, at the 28 West Second Gallery (28 West Second Street, Greensburg) and again at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 10, at the Mary Lou Campana Chapel and Lecture Center (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, 150 Finoli Drive, Greensburg, PA). Both performances are free and open to the public. A wine and cheese reception will follow the performance at 28 West Second Gallery.

“A Waking” follows a grieving family as they try to cope, to varying degrees of success, with the loss of a loved one, and their wait for the funeral home to pick up the body. With all the delicacy of a car crash, it becomes clear that grief, tequila, and bologna don't mix—and that family is never simple.

Hughes, a senior double major in English literature and English writing with a minor in theatre, wrote the play, as an assignment in Stephen Schrum’s playwriting course at Pitt-Greensburg. The performance is expected to run about 40 minutes.

“When I read Meg’s play, I said we need to find a way to produce it,” said Schrum, PhD, associate professor of Theatre at Pitt-Greensburg. “She has a way with dialogue and creates an engaging plot that I think will take the audience by surprise. The Gallery performance, in particular, will allow the audience to feel like they are at a wake for the deceased.”

Karen Ricco, who is an Academic advisor at Pitt-Greensburg, will direct the play. Two other Pitt-Greensburg students will be instrumental in producing the play: Alicia DiPaolo, president of Delta Psi Omega and a psychology and visual and performing arts major (theatre concentration) and Emily Stark, president of the Performing Arts Society and a visual and performing arts major with a minor in communication media studies, will serve as co-producers. DiPaolo is from Irwin, PA, and Stark is from Fayette City, PA.